Febuary 28, 2021
It’s the end of semester; I have a few days free of study. So I went to Miaoli.
Miaoli is about 1 hour 40 minutes from Taipei by fast TRA train. The High Speed Rail trains shave a bit off this time but set you down far away from the city. My rule is TSR until Taichung and HSR from Taichung on.
Travelling by train is very easy. I show my ticket to the train staff, go upstairs to the platform, get on the train, and go. Beats air travel hands down.
I first became interested Miaoli because of Guo Qing, who is actually from Miaoli. Unfortunately, when I made plans to visit, he had just joined a bank in Taichung. Just my luck.
Sunday morning was cloudy when I departed. I took this photo from the train; the scenery is northern Hsinchu.
Just arrived in Miaoli. That’s the train I was just on.
A main street in Miaoli city.
The Hakka people have settled in the area around Miaoli (國慶 is a Hakka). While researching for the Miaoli trip I read this article.
For those of you who want a more in-depth look see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people – but I warn you the history of the Hakka gets pretty gruesome.
I think this small shrine in the grounds on Miaoli train station is dedicated to the Hakka, because the first two characters 客家 are “Hakka” in the Hakka language (the Mandarin pronunciation is “Kèjiā”).
Just by Miaoli train station there is the Miaoli Railway Museum, right beside the railway tracks.
The inside displays were not open as it was a public holiday, but there were a few authentic steam locomotives under a long roof. “It’s worth a visit if you like trains” – see
Some parts of Miaoli were quite idyllic.
The gate of Yuqing Temple (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuqing_Temple). This temple is dedicated to Guan Yu, who was an actual person during the Three Kingdoms period. To put this into context, the Emperor Septimius Severus was ruling over the Roman Empire during part of this same period.
Guan Yu dominates the landscape. I climbed part-way up this artificial hill but was foiled by a immobile turnstyle.
The main hall. I was tired by my climb so didn’t stay long.
I returned to my hotel. This is a photo of my room – the walls and floor are all tiled.
More soon.
Richard
Wandering Richard 